Computer simulations of RUC killings sought by coroner

Teenager Michael Tighe, who was shot dead by the RUC at a hay shed near Craigavon, County Armagh, in November 1982.

The coroner investigating the killing of suspected republicans by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) near Armagh almost 30 years ago is calling for a computer simulation to gain fresh clues, an inquest was told on Friday.

Coroner John Leckey has also asked for a virtual recreation of the fatal shooting of a Catholic teenager at a hay shed in 1982.

Lecky told the inquest he had contacted firearms expert Doctor Graham Renshaw about the matter. "Doctor Renshaw would like to hear from those at first-hand and also from the members of the security forces," he said.

Leckey will investigate the deaths of teenager Michael Tighe, who was shot dead by the RUC at a hay shed near Craigavon, County Armagh, in November 1982 and the two suspected Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) members Roddy Carroll and Seamus Grew, who were shot dead near Armagh in December 1982.

The British government has consistently denied the RUC operated a "shoot-to-kill" policy and has resisted all calls from families of the deceased to examine what happened.

But Leckey told the press that Attorney General John Larkin decided this month to order a fresh inquest, adding that the original hearings in 1983 were deficient by modern standards.

"No criticism of the coroner is intended as he was governed by jurisprudence and procedures that were very different to those applying today," he said.

"The coroner had not been fully appraised of all the relevant evidence pertaining to the tragic circumstances in which the three police officers lost their lives."